"My father and mother are dead," he said. "I used to live with my sister and her husband. He would get drunk off the money I brought home, and if I didn't bring home as much as he expected, he'd fling a chair at my head."
"He was a bully brother-in-law," said Jerry. "Did it hurt the chair much?"
"If you want to know bad, I'll try it on you," growled the narrator.
"Good for Captain Jinks!" exclaimed two or three of the boys.
"When did you join the Hoss Marines?" asked Jerry, with apparent interest.
"Shut up your mouth!" said the captain, who did not fancy the joke.
"Go ahead, Jinks."
"I would not stand that; so I went off, and lived at the Lodge till I got in here. That's all."
Captain Jinks relapsed into silence, and Tim McQuade was called upon. He had a pair of sparkling black eyes, that looked as if he were not averse to fun.
"Maybe you don't know," he said, "that I'm fust cousin to a Markis."